Can Twitter-Tattle Lose Your Battle?

Last week this column looked at Zappos, a brand that has integrated social media into its marketing plans with acclaimed success.

As follow-up, this week is a comparison of social media attitudes from two countries at the forefront of new media marketing, the US and the UK – looking specifically at each country’s armed forces.

With global terror rarely out of the worldwide spotlight, armed forces in the US and UK receive a massive amount of press, often for the wrong reasons. Plenty of scope for social media, then.

Over the last week there have two distinctly different responses to social media from both governments, each approach being very relevant to social media in the business world.

First came the news, last Monday, that the US Marines issued a total ban on use of social media networks by servicemen. Official comment from the Department of Defence cited the “high risk of information exposure” as major reason for the ban.

The Department of Defence has adopted this cautionary approach to avoid a scenario in which social media may leak information which threatens national security.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the British Armed Force, so often at the mercy of headline makers and bad press, came out to encourage its troops to use social media; so long as content covers "factual, unclassified, uncontroversial non-operational matters".

The Army further flexed its social media muscles by announcing these new ‘online engagement guidelines’ on Defence News, the official news blog of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD). The post even encouraged feedback and comment – all very web 2.0 and impressive.

If the aim of the MoD is to combat negative press by presenting a view of life in the army from the horse’s mouth, then it is to be applauded. Cynics will, however, point to the guideline’s clauses which may tone down the honest reporting from British soldiers keen to avoid the repercussions of breaking the guidelines.

The two contrasting examples of social media in the armed forces can be applied to the world of business too.

The British Army example, though not embracing it fully, can use social media to inject some much needed humanity into the armed forces and help increase the public’s knowledge, understanding and appreciation of its role.

The US Army’s decision to ban social media altogether to prevent information leaking into the wrong hands epitomises the mindset of many in the business world. Most recently, US sports broadcasting giant ESPN imposed a hardline Twitter policy which reminded its employees to “assume at all times you are representing ESPN” before publishing content.

ESPN’s memo, which was subsequently leaked to press, was aimed at reigning its sports pundits who use social media to break news, debate issues and even argue with the sports stars they cover.

Where does your business fit in the scale? Do employees use social networks freely or does your company rebuild the barriers social media tears down?